3 Steps to Getting Started With PBL
/If you’re hesitant about project-based learning, here’s how you and your students can begin to get the long-term benefits.
Read MoreEffective Teacher Professional Development Drives Relevant Student Learning
/How is it possible to provide students purposeful learning to support career readiness when 'in demand' skills are rapidly changing, and when there are more tasks to do than there are hours in the day?
Read MoreConnecting to the Workforce through Youth Entrepreneurial Programs
/I wrote a blog post for Uncharted Learning about the importance of connecting hight school students to professionals while they are still in school.
Read MoreWhat Can Competitions, Certifications & Badges Mean for Students?
/I wrote a blog post for Uncharted Learning about different ways to measure learning and student success.
Read MoreLean Startup Conference: A Learning Experience
/When I have time to just focus on absorbing and immersing myself in learning, it’s good for me.
Read MoreTeachers as Expert Learners
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The story of my first attempt at defining the expert learner mindset, and why it’s essential for teachers to embrace it.
Read MoreTalking + Thinking about Innovative Teaching
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From conferences to classrooms, I've been talking with educators about innovative instruction, computer science, entrepreneurship, the value of creating a classroom that simulates the modern workplace, and the need to be expert learners.
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Will this School Year Be When You Learn to Code?
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As expert learners who persevere through numerous challenges, teachers already possess many of the required traits to develop software.
Read MoreThe (re)Segregation of Chicago Schools
/Thoughts after hearing a NPR piece…
Read MoreReflections on an Amazing Week in Life
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A week in San Francisco for WWDC followed by a weekend in Wisconsin for a farm Wedding makes for a story worth sharing.
Read More10 Years into My Career, and I'm Still Making Pivots
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After nine years woking in Chicago Public Schools, the universe told me it was time to move forward....
Read MoreEducators Need to Talk about Equity
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My reflections after attending Course Report’s live panel conversation about diversity in bootcamps .
Read MoreFour Steps to Structured Student Conversation
/When you give students time to talk, they’ll be more willing to listen.
Read MoreLeadership in Education - My Reflection
/This year has been a unique one for me. Not only have I spent almost 10 months mentoring 23 teachers (4 Science, 1 Technology, 4 Math, 1 Engineering, 4 Mandarin, 1 Spanish, 2 Writing, 2 PE/Health, and 4 Special Education), but I have also had to evaluate these teachers according to Charlotte Danielson's Framework for Teaching, using my skills from the Illinois Teachscape Training.
While there have been satisfying aspects to my work, it has been challenging. It was the first time my coaching was combined with evaluating. Relationships have been even more delicate and complex; I've had to be explicit, channeling Robert Irvine from Restaurant Impossible, Super Nanny, and the Dog Whisperer (one must always be "cool, calm, and collected"),so that teachers understand my passion for improving their practice and the intensity I will bring to our daily work together. I've had to focus on how I communicate with others and assess how other adults communicate and learn.
At a time when Chicago Public School principals are feeling choked of their choices (see the Chicago Catalyst articles), I too, can agree that it is hard to lead a school, teachers, and students when I am not able to make systemic changes to impact student learning. I believe that all students have the right to learn, and that right begins with meeting them at a level in which they can understand. Sometimes this means differentiating within a classroom; other times, it means pre-assessing students to determine what classes and course load will lead them to the most success. Determining what those changes are often involves asking hard questions with no real answers, taking actions that involve dramatic change while the ship is already sailing. Change is good. If you've watched any of the recent episodes of Cosmos, you've seen how life, that survives, is life that is willing to adapt and change. Our world is different, and so are our students, therefore, our schools must be different.
I am going to continue to work with students and schools, so I need to have the ability to make real change. When I am not allowed implement effective strategies, I don't want to be a school leader. It seems like no matter where I go in schools, the ability to make fundamental decisions is controlled by people off the front lines. This recent awakening has led me to the belief that I need to make a pivot. I want to make a change in this world, so I have to find a way to maximize resources.
Schools are more than their students - they are the community, the families, the teachers, the districts and the networks. I want to make an impact on the lives of children. I have to be involved with an organization that is on the forefront of learning. I also need to find a way to get the technology that is available to the most privileged students, to ALL students in the US, or at the very least, Chicago. Using technology to interact with this world, is the future OF this world. Let's enable students to be 21st century citizens of our global society. Give me the ability to lead.